


Home Is Where You Are

by Aurae



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: Chiss (Star Wars), Cross-Species Marriage, Future Fic, Just Married Exchange 2020, M/M, May/December Relationship, Post-War, Sexual Content, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:13:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25490683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurae/pseuds/Aurae
Summary: “You look well,” Thrawn said, his eyes narrowed as he took in the Syndic’s formal robes of office. They’d become slightly rumpled in his hurry to get to here but were in otherwise good condition, lavish and layered, undeniable outward sign that Eli had prospered among the Chiss.“And so do you.” Eli felt choked by an excess of poorly concealed emotion. It’d been so long since he’d given up hope…they’d held a funeral…and he’d come to believe…
Relationships: Thrawn | Mitth'raw'nuruodo/Eli Vanto
Comments: 12
Kudos: 91
Collections: Just Married Exchange 2020





	Home Is Where You Are

**Author's Note:**

  * For [inquisitor_tohru](https://archiveofourown.org/users/inquisitor_tohru/gifts).



“My sincerest congratulations, Un’hee,” Eli Vanto said in his best High Formal Cheunh.

When he’d first met Un’hee, she’d been a Chiss Navigator recently rescued from enslavement by enemies who coveted her Force abilities. To his eyes, she’d been hardly more than a lost little girl, traumatized and frightened, and he hadn’t been the least bit surprised to learn later that she’d been granted an early honorable discharge from the Chiss Defense Fleet and sent home to Csilla in order to recuperate.

Now, some twenty-odd years on, Un’hee had outgrown her Force abilities and grown into a handsome young woman, straight of spine and strong of limb. She’d attracted the desire of many wealthy, powerful men and, after a series of fiercely fought courtship competitions, made an excellent marriage into the highest echelons of the aristocracy. Even if she did not pass on her enviable childhood Force abilities to her offspring—and they had never been able to prove that bloodlines were determinative—they would be Eighth Ruling Family siblings-at-birth and exceptionally well-positioned, both socially and politically.

“Thank you, Eli—I mean, Syndic Eli’van’to,” Un’hee replied. She stole a glance towards her new husband, who was beaming with pride. “We were honored by your attendance at the wedding ceremony today.”

“You of all people do not need to stand on formality. Please, call me Eli.” He smiled. Un’hee had used a particular tonal inflection when addressing him that was reserved for respected elders, a.k.a. old folks. Ugh, he wasn’t _that_ old! But still, he was starting to feel his age. Almost as an afterthought, and not quite able to keep a note of wistfulness from creeping into his voice, Eli added, “Besides, this is my first time at a Chiss wedding. The honor…and pleasure…is all mine.”

He was a Syndic, that was true, after having spent years rising through the ranks of the Chiss Defense Fleet. The Aristocra had created his current position especially for him, and it made him one of the most important civilian advisors working in the government. That didn’t mean, however, that his continued human presence in the Chiss Ascendancy was universally accepted. Invitations to social functions tended to go mysteriously missing where Eli was concerned, and he was not affiliated with any of the Ruling Families. Although he could have acquired membership with one of them in the same way Un’hee had, he wasn’t interested in getting married to anyone.

Well. Not to anyone he’d met anytime in the past two decades or so, anyway.

Un’hee excused herself and went to mingle with other wedding guests. Eli checked his comms, uncertain as to whether he was hoping that there’d be nothing to deny him this rare opportunity to celebrate an old friend’s good fortune, or whether he was hoping that there’d be some urgent matter demanding his immediate attention to distract him from the sharp twangs of old heart-pain.

He had, as it turned out, received precisely one new comm in the past four hours…and its contents proved distracting beyond Eli’s wildest dreams.

***

“You look well,” Thrawn said, his eyes narrowed as he took in the Syndic’s formal robes of office. They’d become slightly rumpled in his hurry to get to here but were in otherwise good condition, lavish and layered, undeniable outward sign that Eli had prospered among the Chiss.

“And so do you.” Eli felt choked by an excess of poorly concealed emotion. It’d been so long since he’d given up hope…they’d held a funeral…and he’d come to believe…

Thrawn’s lips curled upwards into a sardonic smile. “Elevated to the Syndicature and still such a poor liar? I would not have thought this possible.”

Eli flushed, feeling like a new cadet confronting a mysterious yet impressive blue-skinned alien all over again. He _hadn’t_ been lying, not really. Yes, Thrawn’s body bore unmistakable marks of hardship. And yet, his scars did not diminish him, and his frame had grown lean and corded with ropy muscle. His dark hair was long and streaked with silver, but it remained glossy and thick. And as for his mind? That, Eli suspected, was as keenly penetrating as ever.

Thrawn had never been one for sentimentality. Eli decided he didn’t care. He stepped forward and took Thrawn’s hands into his own. They were calloused and warm. “Honestly? I thought you were dead. After the Battle of Lothal, when you disappeared with the _Chimaera_ …then after the Empire fell…” Eli shook his head. “By then, well. We had our own wars to fight.” A billion Chiss lives snuffed out before the end. He realized he didn’t want to talk about that now. “We held a funeral after they declared you legally deceased, you know,” he said instead. “Admiral Ar’alani gave the eulogy. She may have even shed a tear or three.”

“Ah, I see. I’m sorry I missed it.”

“I’m not.”

Eli’s grip on Thrawn’s hands tightened. As a young man, he’d been too afraid, too overawed, and on occasion too annoyed to confront the true depth of his feelings. He wasn’t a young man anymore, though, and he had no illusions anymore. Not about himself. Not about Thrawn either. He glanced down at their fingers, alternating shades of brown and blue interlaced. “How did you survive?” he asked.

The pad of Thrawn’s thumb rubbed idly against a small age spot on the back of Eli’s hand. “It’s a long story,” he said. “A, hmm, an ‘odyssey,’ I believe that’s the word in Basic? There will be plenty of time for its telling later. I have other pressing matters I must catch up on first.”

Yeah, Eli had seen the queue forming outside the door when he’d arrived. Thrawn had made planetfall on Csilla mere hours ago, and already he was plotting. Plotting _what_ , Gods only knew. So was that how it was going to be? Eli sighed and released his grip on Thrawn. “Of course. I’ll leave you to it, then.”

“I do wonder.” Thrawn paused, brow furrowed. “Why have you not returned to your people? I cannot tell you how often I’d dreamed these years of home. Why did you never return to yours? If you had wished to pursue life as a civilian, notwithstanding the regime change, it would surely have been easier among your own kind.”

He could have lied, but Thrawn would’ve seen right through it. “I came here on your orders. Remaining with the Chiss was how I felt closest to you. To my memories of you.”

Thrawn missed nothing. “I have to take these meetings, Eli, I’m sorry,” he said, expression inscrutable. “However, please call on me again after starset tomorrow.”

***

“My sincerest congratulations, Syndic Eli’van’to,” Un’hee said. “And my sincerest congratulations to you also, Mitth’raw’nuruodo,” she added with a graceful curtsey for Thrawn.

Members of the Chiss Defense Fleet were obliged to renounce all familial ties. Marriage was likewise unheard of. But Eli was no longer a military officer, and Thrawn was…well, technically speaking, Thrawn was still dead. Applying for a lineage blending license for himself and Thrawn had therefore been a royal pain in the ever-loving ass, if Eli did say so himself, but overcoming the inconvenience of the rigid Chiss bureaucracy had been worth it.

They’d met again after starset, as Thrawn had asked. Eli had been expecting to talk, but they didn’t actually say that much. Instead Thrawn had put his arms around Eli’s waist, and Eli had dissolved into cathartic crying against Thrawn’s breast. Thrawn had kissed the salt tracks from Eli’s cheeks. Then he’d taken Eli to bed.

Eli had been slightly embarrassed to be naked in front of Thrawn at first. “I may have let myself go a little,” he’d admitted with a self-conscious laugh. But Thrawn had just caressed the swell of his belly and the sensitive flesh of his inner thighs like he was touching something infinitely precious. He’d kissed his forehead and his jaw and his neck and his puckered nipples. And by the time he’d finally pushed into Eli, careful and slow, sweetly, acutely sensitive to the tiniest of Eli’s responses, Eli had stopped worrying altogether. The only thing he’d been able to do had been to _feel_. To feel Thrawn, above him, around him, inside him. Devastating pleasure. Indescribable bliss. He’d wished it would never end.

Fortunately, it didn’t have to.

“Thank you, Un’hee,” Eli said in High Formal Cheunh. Then, balling his left fist—it still smarted from the cut—and switching to a lower, vernacular register, he added, “When I saw you perform the blending, it seemed so beautiful, so magical. But I never could have imagined participating in the ritual myself!”

He and Thrawn, they’d cut into their palms and mingled their blood. The resultant wounds were not to be treated beyond basic disinfectant and a bandage, and the scars which resulted would stand as permanent proof of their matrimonial bond. Eli’s shoulder brushed Thrawn’s; they were already inseparable.

“Your lack of foresight surprises me,” Thrawn murmured softly to Eli, his eyes flashing possessively. “This was always one probable outcome.”

“Huh. You don’t say.” Eli decided he’d ask Thrawn about how he’d arrived at this conclusion later. For now, he was just going to enjoy the reality of it.

END

**Author's Note:**

> Posted to the exchange on July 25, 2020.


End file.
